![[CWW Title]](../CWWTitle.gif)
|
Log file opened at: 7/17/01 18:58:45 #workshop: WTYates Nadine AnnieM Peg JanetBly @iUniverse AnnieM: no, please don't. It'll make my migraine worse. AnnieM: hi, Bill WTYates: Hi, all! JanetBly: Greetings, Bill. WTYates: Hi, Janet. Welcome! Peg: Hi, Bill AnnieM rolls out the red carpet for Bill. AnnieM: Hi, Carol, enjoyed your story. JanetBly: Greetings, Carol! CarolCox: Thanks, Annie! I'm part way through yours now. CarolCox: Hi, Janet! Nadine: I nearly bought one of your books on the weekend Janet. Alas they are so expensive here in Australia JanetBly: Nadine almost?? AnnieM tosses a few dollars Nadine's way JanetBly: Sorry about that! Nadine: Thanks Annie!!! WTYates: Where are you in Australia? Nadine: Queensland WTYates: What city? Nadine: Gold Coast WTYates: OK. Looking to see if you had a Footy team... :) AnnieM: Can you purchase one from her directly, Nadine? JanetBly: Nadine, enter our contest for a freebie on the website. Peg: Janet, are your books available on Amazon or B&N...? AnnieM: brb JanetBly: Yes, Peg, on both of those. Nadine: I definitely will do that Janet, Thanks Peg: Nadine, would that make a difference... if you could purchase online? Nadine: The freight often makes it ineffective to save money. However I always keep an eye out for great deals JanetBly: Hello gorilla and diagocat! diagocat: Hi, everyone. Peg: Amazon is now offering free shipping. WTYates: Overseas, too? Nadine: Not to Australia I think it is only the US and Canada Peg: Dunno... JanetBly: Greetings, Lindsay! Lindsay: hi everybody! WTYates: That settles it. You'll just have to come to the US and stock up on books! :) JanetBly: Greetings, Vickie! Vickie: Hi Nadine: Where are you from Bill? Peg: Hi, Vickie, Lindsay, Diago, Carol, Gorilla... WTYates: We'll get started in a few minutes. Looks like we're gathering a good crowd. WTYates: Oxnard, CA. I love Aussie football. Peg: Thanks to Annie's extra mailing :) Nadine smiles at everyone in the room :-) WTYates: Thanks, Annie! Nadine: Janet; which book do you recommend I read of yours first - if money were no problem!! JanetBly: Nadine--HOPE LIVES HERE, my newest. WTYates: Janet, do you ever get back to Ventura County? DeAnna: Great book! I'm reading it now. :) Nadine: My local store has The Senator's Other Daughter in stock but it costs $25.95 Peg: Hi, DeAnna JanetBly: Greetings, DeAnna, glad you made it! DeAnna: Thanks...glad I figured out how it works. ;) JanetBly: Yes, we get there once in a while, Bill. Yikes! Nadine, that's robbery. Peg: I'll say! WTYates: Is that $A or $US? Nadine: I just saw they have Fox Island for $3.95 JanetBly: Get Fox Island instead. Nadine: Its Australian dollars which converted isn't so bad - but to me it is still $25 Peg: Right!!!! WTYates: 1 minute or so to go... Peg: Hi dere Dar (g) Dar: Hello WTYates: Here we go... WTYates: Welcome to the Christian Writer's Workshop! WTYates: We will be under protocol tonight... WTYates: Type a ? to ask a question... WTYates: Type a ! to make a comment (does not requires a response)... WTYates: Please type / or ga when you are done... WTYates: I will call on you in turn. WTYates: Our guest tonight is Janet Chester Bly who will talk about How do we get ideas? WTYates: Welcome, Janet! WTYates: The Christian Writer's Workshop meets 10 PM ET Tuesdays in the #workshop chat room at iUniverse.com and 9 PM ET Thursdays in the Writers Workshop chat room on AOL (Keyword=wcchat). The CWW web site is at http:/www.billyates.com/cww/. JanetBly: Thanks, Bill. WTYates: If you would like the weekly email CWW newsletter, send an email to billyates@billyates.com. WTYates: We will open with a word of prayer. Peg, would you open for us? Peg: Dear Lord, we thank you for bringing us all together tonight. Thank you for our guest Janet Bly, and be with her as she shares of herself with us. In Jesus' name, Amen" WTYates: AMEN! diagocat: Amen WTYates: Janet, the floor is yours... When you are ready for Q&A, just let me know... JanetBly: Okay. I'm ready to begin. . . JanetBly: My husband, Stephen, and I have been writing since 1975. His first book was published in 1982. Since then he has done 70 plus books. I have written 10 books of my own, including GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME and HOPE LIVES HERE, plus 17 co-authored books with Steve. Between us we have had more than 90 books in print, both fiction and nonfiction, for adults and kids. My husband is best known for western and historical fiction. Find out more at our website: www.blybooks.com Now, for some pointers on where and how to get writing ideas . . . what has worked for us! PRAY--ask the Creator of all that exists to open your writer's eyes. FILL YOURSELF--with the Word of God--the stories, the principles, the personal knowledge of our heavenly Father, with spiritual truth. CARRY YOUR TOOLS--take paper and pen wherever you go. Ideas are like sunsets. They fill our skies with wonder, then they're gone in a flash and difficult to recall. Ideas are also like germs. They're absolutely everywhere and there's good ones and bad ones and we have to learn to sort it out. START CLOSE AT HAND -- hubby's first book RADICAL DISCIPLESHIP came from material he developed from 10 years of teaching college students from the Book of Mark. Every ministry and interest is grist for writing. TAKE ON A CHALLENGE-- Steve's book GOD'S ANGRY SIDE grew from reading a line out of a J.I. Packer book that said that he knew of no one who had written a book on this subject. GET OUT--travel expands creativity. We have visited every place we have written about. Steve likes sitting on benches in strange little towns and visiting with locals. My devotionals developed from listening to women's stories at retreats where I speak. EAVESDROP--Listening to editors during lunch across the table from them at a Mount Hermon Conference, we learned of a need in their house and got two new books. ASK QUESTIONS--of yourself and others and of your characters (in fiction)--Ask "Suppose that" and "What if?" ADAPT--We had a manuscript in a drawer with two 14-year-old protagonists, then learned that a publisher was in great need of stories with girls in them. We changed the names and some details and got a six-book contract. PAY ATTENTION TO DAILY STUFF--conflicts & chaos, sorrows & joys, none of it is wasted as a writer. Out of this has come our family books, our husband/wife fiction series, most of our anecdotes. MIX IT UP-- Experiment with unrelated combos. My husband combined a New York city editor and a Montana rodeo cowboy and got them solving a mystery together in the hidden crevices of the Grand Canyon. That became the Austin-Stoner Files series. GET CLOSE TO KIDS--what they say, how they think, stirs up the muse, creates new thoughts and so was born AWAKENING YOUR SENSE OF WONDER, the book idea that came to me after walking in the woods with my grandaughter. TAKE STOCK--what is God teaching you right now? What is your burning passion? What is your next thing to do? Assessing myself spiritually has focused the topics for all my devotionals. GET PASSIONATE--what issues touch a nerve in you? That's why I persevered for years to write THE HEART OF A RUNAWAY. COMMIT--deadlines force creativity. Don't despise the day of small assignments. READ LOTS--find an era, a place, a genre, a topic, become an expert on something. Read books & road signs. Read historical markers & old letters. Read labels & cartoons. Read calendars & greeting cards. iUniverse.com Chat Community) GET CLOSE--to an idea person. I happened to marry mine. :) Peg:(g)> SNAP IT UP--opportunities for ministry while waiting for the ides to flow. Our speaking at family conferences provided years of resources for writing on family topics. Now, it's your turn. When do you get your best ideas? What is a catalyst that works for you? ga Lindsay: ? WTYates: Linsay... AnnieM: ! Lindsay: do you worry about your idea is one you picked up from someone else and forgot where you got it? I mean, are there any really new ideas? (rats, I forgot what to do when I'm finished . . .I am finished.) Peg: just type ga or / Lindsay: ok ga JanetBly: No, there are no new ideas under the sun. But we bring our individual fresh approaches. That's our God-given creativity. JanetBly: ga WTYates: AnnieM... AnnieM: Many of the storyline issues for my present WIP I found in newspapers. ga JanetBly: Yes, newspapers are great for ideas.ga Lindsay: ? WTYates: Linsay... Lindsay: how do you keep your plot from sounding like a news story you read about? ga JanetBly: Change the gender. Change the place. Change one particular detail.ga AnnieM: ! WTYates: AnnieM... AnnieM: mix them up. combine a few different articles into one plotline. ga JanetBly: Good comment, Annie. WTYates: ? WTYates: WTYates... AnnieM: :D WTYates: How do you keep track of the ideas? How do you keep them so you can go back to them later?/ Peg: (good question!) JanetBly: I have a filing system that's pretty thorough. Nadine: ? WTYates: Nadine... Lindsay: ? WTYates: Nadibne... Nadine: How do you come up for an idea for a story you are already writing? ie You have the characters at a certain point and need a fresh idea?/ JanetBly: Read some good writing. That's what works for me. Steve-he shoots somebody to stir up a plot. AnnieM: lol Nadine: LOL AnnieM: my type of writer DeAnna: ! WTYates: Lindsay... Lindsay: Janet, I've read your Carson City Chronicles . . . I love the stories, but I also love the names . .. where do you come up with such creative names? like marthellen? ga JanetBly: I get names everywhere--street signs, billboards, phonebooks, obituaries, etc. Peg: ? JanetBly: ga WTYates: DeAnna... DeAnna: I just wanted to say that when I'm stuck for plot ideas, I try to figure out what is most important to my character and destroy or threaten that. Works for me. ;) JanetBly: Great idea, DeAnna. WTYates: Peg... Peg: Janet, could your expand/explain your 'idea' filing system? JanetBly: I have umpteen file drawers under umpteen names. I just have to remember what my filing code is. Any more specific question, Peg? Peg: Nope, that's about how I work it, too :) Lindsay: ? JanetBly: Steve keeps all his ideas in his photographic memory.ga WTYates: (I had one of those but it never developed.. ) Peg: lol, bill AnnieM: lol, Bill Vickie: That was a Kodak moment, Bill WTYates: Lindsay... Lindsay: do good ideas come in bunches? I mean, are there seasons where you are more creative? ga JanetBly: Definitely. Other times I'm as dry as a desert stream. ga Lindsay: ? Peg: ? WTYates: Lindsay... WTYates: :) Lindsay: if you are driving down the road and get a good idea what do you do with it? ga JanetBly: I write it down, Lindsay, as quick as I can! ga WTYates: Peg... Lindsay: I mean you rush home and flesh it out . . ..just scribble a note, or what ga Peg: Lindsay pretty much covered it... but what about a micro recorder.? JanetBly: I write the idea down and save it for a time when I can really work on it. That's about it. ga JanetBly: A recorder works great, if that's your style.ga Nadine: ? WTYates: Nadine... Nadine: What do you do if the idea you are working on suddenly seems stale? Do you go to another project?/ JanetBly: Shoot somebody! Whoops! I mean, freshen it with another idea that zips it up. Mix it up, in other words. AnnieM: (add some salsa) JanetBly: Yes, I would go to another project, definitely, and then come back later. ga WTYates: ? WTYates: WTYates... Lindsay: ? WTYates: Does anyone ever say, "That's a dumb idea"? What d you when someone pooh-poohs your ideas? JanetBly: This is a big problem, Bill. We've got to stay away from those people because many good ideas can be pooh-poohed away. You've got to be persistent as a pro writer. ga WTYates: Lindsay... Lindsay: how do you actually decide you are going to write a book on a subject . . . like your book Awakening Your Sense of Wonder . . . how do you decide . . ."I'm going to write a book on that!" GA Nadine: ? JanetBly: I wait on the Lord until He seems to be guiding me. Truly I do. And go for it, until it hits a permanent deadend. ga WTYates: Nadine... Nadine: How do you find ideas that appeal to a publisher?/ JanetBly: That's the big trick, Nadine! You just keep at it until something clicks. ga Lindsay: ? WTYates: Lindsay... JanetBly: Lots of ideas go into the wastebasket before a Big One comes. ga Lindsay: Janet, have you had books that hit a permanent deadend??? ga JanetBly: Yes, Lindsay, many have. ga Peg: ? WTYates: Peg... Peg: OK... you have this bright idea, and believe it can become something... how do you flesh it out? Where do you get the 'rest of the story'? ga JanetBly: Fleshing it out is always hard work. It takes a little bit here, a big bunch there. It comes step by step. ga Peg: ? JanetBly: To be a pro writer requires perseverance of the highest sort. ga WTYates: Peg... Peg: How do you do your research, if any? ga JanetBly: Research by reading everything that seems to apply and going to places where the situation fits and looking at all kinds of people and thinking, thinking, thinking, all kinds of thoughts. JanetBly: ga WTYates: ? WTYates: WTYates... Lindsay: ? Vickie: ? WTYates: Janet, do your ideas go through much transformation before they appear in the final draft?/ JanetBly: Yes, there is a tremendous transformation, no instant success. Have to stay encouraged when things look dumb on the page. Just know that inspiration is going to improve. ga WTYates: Lindsay... Lindsay: how do you and your husband create such interesting characters? GA JanetBly: Fiction writers are liars and thieves, a western writer once said. Pull a trait from one person and add a quirk from another until the character seems to live in your own mind. ga WTYates: Vickie... AnnieM: ? Vickie: Could you recommend some good books or internet sites for historical western research? ga JanetBly: State archives in the state you're in. Go on site first choice though. ga Peg: ? WTYates: AnnieM... Vickie: ? AnnieM: A friend of mine wants to know how to turn something that's a bit on the dull side to something exciting and worth reading. ga JanetBly: Know the good publishers--University of Oklahoma & Nebraska, etc.ga Nadine: ? WTYates: Oops, Annie first... JanetBly: dull to exciting--make it as fantastic as possible, then make it believable. That's one way. ga WTYates: Peg... Peg: How do you feel about writing in the dialect? I find it difficult to read. ga JanetBly: Make it a moderate dialect. And don't have all the characters with dialect. This takes much practice to work it right. ga WTYates: Vickie... Vickie: How do you access state archives? ga JanetBly: Call the state historical society in state you're researching and ask them if they have internet access. ga WTYates: Nadine... Nadine: Do you run your ideas past other people to see what they think? If so.. Who and what sort of feedback do you find helpful?/ JanetBly: Sometimes. This is also tricky. I do not like talking about my book ideas much before I write about them. Too many naysayers to discourage. And sometimes the idea kinda floats away. Hard to explain. ga Peg: two minute warning :) WTYates: Time for 1 or 2 more... WTYates: ? WTYates: WTYates... WTYates: What's the best idea you ever had? the worst?/ JanetBly: The best idea I ever had was my book, MANAGING YOUR RESTLESS SEARCH and it was the quickest one to go out of print. So, maybe it was my worst. :) ga Peg: LOL WTYates: Thanks, Janet!! This was an excellent session! AnnieM: ! Lindsay: thanks Janet, and tell your husband I can hardly wait for the next book in the Belles of Lordsburg series! WTYates: AnnieM... JanetBly: Thank you, Bill. You have a great group here. ga AnnieM: Thanks Janet. It's been a blast as usual. ga JanetBly: I'll tell him, Lindsay. Thanks! Peg: Janet, thank you so much! It's been great. DeAnna: Thanks. :) WTYates: Peg, would you close in prayer for us... Peg: Father, thank you for another hour in learning how to write for you. Peg: Thank you, again, for Janet, and for all who have joined us tonight. Nadine: Yes thanks Janet Peg: Be with us as we go our ways tonight,. In Jesus' name, Amen. WTYates: AMEN!!! Bye: Bye everyone WTYates: If you would like the weekly email CWW newsletter, send an email to billyates@billyates.com. AnnieM: Amen JanetBly: Amen & Amen! Nadine: amen CarolCox: Amen. Thanks, Janet. DeAnna: ::::wave:::: AnnieM: Janet, tell Steve that AZ Annie got herself a new carbine WTYates: Bye, all! JanetBly: What caliber and what make? WTYates: And thanks again, Janet! AnnieM: not sure. She found it at a campsite and decided to liberate it. Peg: Goodnight, all & God Bless!! AnnieM: night Bill and Peg WTYates: Nigh, Annie! JanetBly: Send Steve a picture of it sometime. He'd enjoy that. WTYates: Night, Janet! Lindsay: this was really, really neat, thanks all . . . bye Bye: Had a great time AnnieM: night Lindsay Nadine: Bye all JanetBly: Goodnight, all! Log file closed at: 7/17/01 20:03:04 |
![[Top button]](../resources/go_top_btn.gif){kind=small}
Return to top of this page
![[Home button]](../resources/home_btn.gif){kind=small}
Return to CWW Workshops Page
Return to CWW Home Page